Congratulations to Mike Linster, winner of WPT bestbet Open and newest member of the WPT Champions Club.
After a fast-moving final table that took just three hours to reach heads-up play, Linster found himself locked in a 111-hand, three-hour battle with David Bell where neither player was willing to give up a pot without a fight. In the end though, Linster prevailed and earned a payday worth $321,521, including a $25,500 entry to the upcoming WPT World Championship at Bellagio.
The day’s first elimination was David Diaz, who started the day with less than 10 big blinds in his very short stack. Diaz fought valiantly, but just didn’t have the ammunition to outgun the competition, and found himself in bad shape after moving all in with Qs-10d only to find himself way behind chip leader David Schechter’s pocket Kings. Diaz couldn’t catch up on a board that ran out Ac-8h-7d-3h-Qc and Diaz he went to the rail in 6th place with a payday worth $46,673.
Pete Tinnesz, the table’s new short stack, was the next player eliminated. After a preflop raising war with Bell, Tinnesz check-raised all in on a flop of 8h-6h-5s. Bell called with 8c-6c and his pair of sixes held when Tinnesz’s As-Qc blanked out on the turn and river.
Pete Chwala was the next to bow out when he pushed his short stack from the button with Kh-Jd and found himself behind Linster’s Ac-Qh. Neither player connected on a board of 10c-4h=2d-6d-4c, and Linster’s Ace high was enough to send Chwala packing.
Schechter, the chip leader at the start of the day, was sitting short when three-handed play started. A preflop raising battle saw bell move all in for 4.6 million and draw a quick call from Schechter whose pocket Kings were dominated by Bell’s Aces. When Schecther couldn’t catch a king, he went home in third place with $115,311 in his pocket.
After moving along quickly, heads-up play became a drawn out war as Bell and Linster took turns grinding each other down, with Linster facing elimination two separate times only to double up each time. In the tournament’s final hand, Bell min-raised to 400,000 and was re-raised to 1 million by Linster. After considering his options, Bell moved all in for a total of 3.75 million and was quickly called by Linster, whose Ah-Qd was way ahead of Bell’s 8d-6d. A board that ran out Js-5h-2c-4d-10d brought no help to either player and Linster’s Ace high scooped the monster pot and the title.
Live Updates Reporter Jeanine Deeb grabbed a short interview with the champion after his win.
One player not at today’s final table was WPT Player of Year front-runner Matt Salsberg who made yet another deep run in a big event. Salsberg, who finished 10th, chalked up his sixth cash of the season and added an additional 75 WPT Player of the Year points to his tally, giving him a 175-point lead over Matt Volpe going into Day 1A of the PartyPoker.net Canadian Spring Championship starting on Friday.
Payouts
- Mike Linster – $321,521, including a $25,500 entry to the WPT World Championship
- David Bell – $175,712
- Danny Schechter – $115,311
- Pete Chwala – $79,619
- Pete Tinnesz – $58,754
- David Diaz – $46,673